This present invention is a surgical cable system for securance of the sternum following coronary bypass surgery, as well as for other desired bone securance uses.
In Songer, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,340 a surgical securance apparatus is disclosed in which a loop of surgical cable may be formed with crimping pliers having a capstan on one of the handles, for winding the surgical cable to provide crimping under a desired and predetermined level of tension. While this system is being successfully used in various clinical applications, there are certain desired clinical uses of crimped surgical cables for which the system of the above-cited patent is not optimum. Thus, by this invention, improvements are provided in surgical cables and the handling thereof to facilitate additional surgical procedures, above and beyond what was possible in the prior art.
In the prior art, surgery in and adjacent to the heart generally requires the central opening of the sternum to provide the surgeon with access. After the operation, the sternum is closed, typically with monofilament wire of about twenty gauge. Such wire is subject to breakage. Additionally, monofilament wire can not be tightened to a degree that is often desirable since, as wires are tightened, the wire is stressed so that further tightening may fracture the wire. However, if the wire tension against the sternum is undesirably low, the sternum is not rigidly fixed. This results in more post-operative pain than in the case with patients which have a rigidly fixed sternum due to better securance.
For this and other reasons, the monofilament wire securance of the sternum in accordance with the prior art has disadvantages and shortcomings.